Red Sox Stand Tall

Details are still a bit sketchy but the bottom line is this: the Red Sox players took a stand to protect their “extended family” of coaches and trainers. It appears there was a dispute on whether or not coaches and members of the training staff would be paid the same $40,000 stipend for the trip to Japan that the players will receive. Terry Francona and the players believed that would be the case, but news contradicting that was reported yesterday. When word filtered down to the Red Sox players, they unanimously voted to boycott today’s spring training game as well as the entire Japan trip if the dispute wasn’t resolved. Within and hour, their demands were evidently met.

No doubt there are spin doctors working their magic to come up with a plausible story about the whole thing being a simple misunderstanding. Damage control. Whatever happens, it won’t take away from what the Red Sox did as a team today to show their support to the rest of the organization.